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With
Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Sunderland, Chelsea were shoved into fifth
place and out of Champions League spot. So there is just one goal for
today’s match at Craven Cottage – the Blues must take three points! But
it will not be easy because during the first leg in November, it was a
nervy 1-0 win for Chelsea over their London neighbours.

Michael Essien
scored the goal but was sent off late in the second half for a
dangerous tackle on Clint Dempsey. At that time, Chelsea were still in
first place, four points ahead of Manchester United but things are a
lot different now.

Chelsea manager,
Carlo Ancelotti, is happy to have extra days to prepare for today’s
encounter but the Italian admits that his side have to be at their best
today to beat a Fulham side that is playing well and getting results.

“It is perfect to
be able to play on this Monday, the players have more time for recovery
after the international matches but we can still prepare for Fulham,
which will not be easy because I think Fulham now are having their best
moment of the season,” Ancelotti said.

“They are playing well with confidence so for us to be able to take more time and play on Monday is good.”

Taking on former players

They will also be
coming up against a former Chelsea player in Steve Sidwell, who was
transferred from Aston Villa in January. Sidwell has been like a nomad
since he left Chelsea three years ago but seems to be settling well
after his move to Fulham.

“The reason I left
Chelsea was to go and play football but it didn’t work out at Villa and
the same situation occurred. I left Villa to come and play football and
it’s working out,” Sidwell, who made a handful of appearances for the
Blues said.

Fulham coach Mark
Hughes, also a former Chelsea player will try to nullify the Chelsea
midfield and that could mean dropping one of his two strikers,
possibly, Moussa Dembele, into the hole and mandating Adam Johnson, to
run the channels behind Chelsea’s full backs, who are pseudo-wingers.

Hughes has already
ruled out his former team from challenging for the league title. “It’s
hard to see how they can win the title.

They’ve lost seven matches at this point.

“They’re in a very
difficult position and historically losing no more than six games has
been the benchmark. Even if they don’t lose again, I think it will be
beyond them to put together a run that will overcome the teams above
them.”

Fulham’s Ghanaian
right back, John Pantsil has scored two own goals in his last three
matches and Chelsea could target that channel in the hope that his
gaffes will continue.

Brazilian
midfielder, Ramires is back in the squad but Jose Bosingwa will face a
late fitness test. Ancelotti is happy with the additions and believes
his side now possesses more power.

“Now we have a strong squad with David Luiz and Torres, we’ve improved our ability and we have more power.

The squad was good, but now it is even better.”

Fitting Drogba and Torres together

Ancelotti is also
looking for a formula to fit in both Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres,
who had a subdued debut against Liverpool, as a two pronged attacking
unit.

“In attack we can
choose whether to play with two up front or with the Christmas tree, it
depends on the game that we want to play. When we play with two
strikers Nicolas Anelka can be in the number 10 position, in the hole,
but with one striker he can play on the right,” he said.

“Florent Malouda
can also play there, and sometimes we tried last year Frank Lampard at
the beginning of the season which was not bad.

Malouda can also
play in the Christmas tree, but I don’t need to think of him as a
central midfielder because we have a lot of options there.”

Chelsea midfielder
Gael Kakuta, on loan to Fulham cannot face his parent club, while
Nigerian holding midfielder, Dickson Etuhu is a doubt with a hamstring
problem. Bobby Zamora is still recuperating from a broken leg while
former Arsenal defender, Philippe Senderos is a long-term absentee with
an Achilles’ tendon complaint. Former Chelsea and Barcelona striker,
Eidur Gudjohnsen could also make a first start, after arriving on loan
from Stoke City.

Whatever formation is employed in today’s game by Ancelotti, Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich will be expecting a good result.